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My New Studio Build (perhaps overly detailed)
- Thread starter silky smoove
- Start date
IMO, it seems louder than it should for all the effort you've put into the room.
The mini split and the HRV on the north wall were known quantities given that there are two 5” diameter holes and one 3” diameter hole going straight through from the main room to the outside world. The fact that the sound escape on that side of the building is barely audible at my neighbors’ property lines is a miracle. With a baffle box on the HRV it will be well in excess of acceptable.
Sound isolation is a beast of a task. My goal was to knock it down by 60-75%, and I’m well beyond that even at the worst location. At the best location the sound transfer is so minimal that I have to strain myself to even hear it. Also remember that I went with the lower isolation assembly of the two I was considering. This was the “easy” route!
It’s a lumber framed box skinned with two layers of plywood with Green Glue in between. Inside there’s a divider down the inlet and exhaust to keep the two types of air separated. In each half there are a series of baffles, also made from double plywood and Green Glue, that force the air to make a series of back and forth turns before exiting through a grill/screen. The more turns and interruptions the air hits on its way out the less sound can be transferred. Additionally, the cross-sectional area of the passage it winds its way through is different than the cross sectional area of the ducting that passes it through the wall. The immediate change from one area to a different sized area scrubs off a huge amount of sound, and is the mechanism that allows gun silencers to work. All of the seams are filled with acoustic sealant.
And that's the easy way? LOL
Thanks for the explanation. There's always something, that's for sure.
Enjoyed your thread.
The easy way I was referring to was clips and hat channel versus true room in a room construction, a floating floor, etc. Baffle boxes are part of the deal regardless of what isolation methods you use. In a build shooting for SERIOUS isolation you would build a baffle box outside the studio, and an identical one inside the studio for each HVAC penetrarion.And that's the easy way? LOL
Thanks for the explanation. There's always something, that's for sure.
Enjoyed your thread.
you could record in the Room, and have your wife whale on the car horn, set off a air horn, scream bloody murder etc and check if you can hear anything.
I really like the look of the studio, what are the chances of you building a 2ed building, for the control desk? You could bury the cables, and run TV monitors so you can see the live room? (JK) But it would be epic to keep this build going
Once I’m finished with the remaining tasks I’m going to hang up my tool bags. This space is more than adequate for my needs. If I ever sell this house and need to build another studio I’ll hire a contractor.
Yay Silky! Congrats!
Looking forward to seeing everything moved in. I remember discussing drum isolation but can't remember the decision. Are you going to get a screen or build a fake wall?
Looking forward to seeing everything moved in. I remember discussing drum isolation but can't remember the decision. Are you going to get a screen or build a fake wall?
Drum isolation? The whole room is isolated. No screen. No more walls being built.
Should've been clearer, I meant with the absence of a control room, so you can hear ghost tracking over and above the drums when being played?
Isolation headphones are all that are needed if I’m tracking drums by themselves. If I’ve got, say, a drummer, a guitarist and a bassist tracking simultaneously I’ll give them each a pair of isolation headphones, I’ll DI the guitars and bass (monitoring uitar through something like Positive Grid BIAS), and will reamp those performances later. Not as nice as a large facility with dedicated rooms, but I had to work within some very serious space and permitting constraints. You can read about those much earlier in the thread if you haven’t been around since her beginning.
The voyage isn’t yet complete, but I can at least see the shoreline and am getting prepared to dock... anchor... nautical metaphor... boat.
Today I picked up two rugs. One for under the mix desk, one for under the performer’s station. They both looked great, but the one at the mix desk was too big. I’m returning it tomorrow and have one picked out that will be a better size. It’s also more adventurous aesthetically, so that will be fun. I tend to pick things that are visually “safe” but effective in a complimentary way. My wife starts from my perspective and then makes more bold artistic choices (which is odd since I’m more of an artist than she is in many respects), and she’s almost always 100% right when I see her choices put in place. I suspect the rug she suggested will be very cool in the space. Pics tomorrow night.
My wife just let me know that I got two packages from Sweetwater this morning. Evidently my wall hangers arrived a day early. I probably won't get to them tonight, but I'll be in good shape to get them mounted tomorrow night.
As long as they tie the room together.
My wife made the same joke. That happens to be my favorite movie of all time, so it's quite fitting.
